Dim Diǎnlán
Dim Diǎnlán (#23317A) is a deep blue with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (230°, 55%, 31%) places it in the balanced band at a dark lightness. It works well as a headline, icon, or deep background in an otherwise light layout, pairing cleanly with cream, bone, and warm neutrals. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary amber. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.
Etymology
Old English dim, dark, obscured. As a color modifier, dim implies reduced luminance without specific saturation effect — a dim red is a less luminous version of red rather than a less saturated one. Sits at the value-only end of the deep grid, closer to dark than to plush.
Chinese diǎnlán (深蓝) — deep blue, used for the saturated blue of Ming-dynasty cobalt-on-porcelain underglaze and the deep-blue silks of Han-period imperial robes. The color refers to a Ming-dynasty diǎnlán cobalt-on-porcelain plate: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the high gloss of fired porcelain glaze.
Closest matches
The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.
Variations
Click any swatch to exploreHarmonies
Accessibility
How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.
The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.